The NBA is in mourning. This Friday, at the age of 88, the legendary KC Jones, player and coach of the Boston. The information was corroborated by the Celtics, a team he played with for nine seasons and won titles in eight of them, the third most in history, behind only his legendary teammates Bill Russell (11) and Sam Jones (10). ).
That success continued through his coaching days, when he won three titles (one as an assistant and two as a coach) in Boston’s series of 1980s successes with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish as protagonists, considered the best in NBA history.
The only season he didn’t win a championship was 1966-67, and soon after, Jones retired, at the age of 34. But Jones remained in the league, first as a coach at Brandeis University on the outskirts Boston and then as an assistant or head coach in the NBA or ABA before returning to the Celtics as an assistant to the legendary Bill Fitch in 1977.
Jones retired from coaching the Celtics after the 1987 season and moved into the Celtics’ front office before ending his coaching career with the Seattle SuperSonics and Detroit Pistons. The Celtics decided to withdraw his number 25 and he was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, in the class of 1989.
Born in Texas, he trained with Russell at the University of San Francisco and won consecutive NCAA titles in 1955 and 1956. The summer after the second title, the two led the United States national team to a gold medal in the Olympics. Play in Melbourne (Australia).
He is also one of seven players to win college and NBA basketball titles, as well as Olympic gold, along with Russell, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner and Clyde Lovellette.